Gilded Monomaniac
by Vindaloo
Summary: Mandark finds out there is something more to his rival than he previously thought.....


  
  
I do not own any of the characters from Dexter's Laboratory, though I wish I had some involvement with it so I can return this program back into its old glory before Candi Milo took over the role as Dexter, and Chris Savino came in and messed up the plots.......grrrrrrrrr...... I shall send a thousand radioactive flying monkeys their way! May they feel my wrath! Bwahahahahahahaha! :)  
  
Enough of the insanity......please review! I need communication, dammit! And flames are welcomed to help roast my marshmallows upon. :)  
  
The Gilded Monomaniac  
  
The denizen of his newly created laboratory, Mandark stewed within its vermillion glow- truely a place that he can call home despite the tribal gothic look it emitted as if straight from a Tim Burton movie- truely a place that the interiour reflected the inhabitant's attitude towards life and life itself.  
  
Only the inhabitants in his head, though, was the looming agony of what Dexter did to his former lab, all pristine in the furthest technological advances that mankind could only have dreamt of, now reduced to rubble and raw material in whatever scrap remainments he used in building this new place he calls home.  
  
The temptation of seeing his rival's laboratory demolished like his only fueled his hatred and belligerence as he rebuilt his. He always loomed over the day he would strike, but many things going on knocked it back to an inactive position in his thoughts.  
  
Today was the day that he would strike like a viper in waiting, fangs,venom and all.  
  
Anxiously, the mad scientist galloped up his concentric steel spiral staircase, concocting a deviously foul plot that would bring Dexter to his knees. Laughing maniacally, Mandark would usurp his place as top scientist by defalt.  
  
"I know! I shall send an army of my suicide robots, filled with the highest grade of nitroglycerin ----" Mandark hesitated. He wanted to see the destruction itself, feel it, torment his ingenious rival when he steps foot into his most beloved posession.  
  
Being the cold calculating genius that he is, Mandark was haste with another macbre plan to tumble the hated lab that he rivaled.  
  
"Perhaps, I shall go inside and hack into Dexter's nuclear reactor through his computer, that when he awakens, his lab shall explode!" Then he halted. He didn't want to hurt Dexter, nor his family (especally the beloved Dee Dee.), he wanted to bask in the sadness and tortured pain of his rival, he wanted him to feel exactly what he went through, and then some, he didn't want to expose anyone to deadly gamma rays.  
  
"Dammit! I shouldn't act on impulse," Mandark scolded himself. "What I should do is make it secretive, and ambush him by surprise......"  
  
His eyes narrowed and a grin spread across his face, delerious with thought.  
  
"Why should I be the antagonist, when technology can do it for me," Mandark cackled as he flipped through a small locked box, going through the vast amounts of discs containing various codes and viruses.  
  
His trotting fingers stopped at a red disk that contained a label that announced in bold black letters : WARNING! TECHNOLOGICAL MANIPULATION VIRUS/#093268/ esetitanium lightning.  
  
"Ahhhh! Titanium Lightning! I remember creating this beauty on a rainy day, the result of boredom and Dexter's wrath!"  
  
"This lone virus connects with the harddrive and spreads throughout all of the robots' programming, and disables them and other mechanical clutter that happens to be connected to that inferiour computer of his, and his puny lab will finaly be destroyed! All of his information will then be uploaded into my computer, and then I can control those weaponary and robots of his!"  
  
The mad scientist jumped up in mid air, fueled by the power of knowing what will soon happen, and cackled that infamous laugh of his, raven hair perched on his head shuddering like a silken mop.  
  
Senna Oxford shoes clomping on the midnight obsidian flooring announced Astronominov's approach to the exit, poised and ready to strike like a calvary.  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
Knowing that he would not find a way into his nemsis' house without leaving a trace on any macromolecular level, and also due to the result of a once owned molecular transportation device that was demolished in the gavotting of a golden-haired goddess, he would have to pick the locks of the doors and play a role as Dexter's best friend if caught by the rival's parents, and pray that the older boy is emmerced in a hard days sleep.  
  
Lanky frame shuffling up the concrete sidewalk, Mandark pulled a sleek bobby pin from his hair and gently prodded the keyhole, hoping to turn some gears to pop the lock to open the front door of the lion's den.  
  
A click, then success as the wooden door went ajar, and silently the mad scientist slithered in with the shadows.  
  
It was how he expected Dexter's house would look: clean, retro, and adorned with family photos. It was the typical surburbian house, stereotyped right down to the infamous pink carpeting and brick fireplace.  
  
Black horn-rimmed glasses gazed at the photos, studying every detail like an observant tourist. Mandark gently took the gilded gold frame of the family photo and studied the picture.  
  
It was an image of Dexter,his beloved sister, and his parents. While he did not care for the parental units, his eyes studied his rival, noting that the boy had some Irish and English in his background with his firery red curls,cherub like-face, pallid skin tone, and emerald doe-eyes. He couldn't help but to feel a little awe at this ingenious rival.  
  
But eyes didn't lay to rest on his rival, oh no, he was mainly drooling over the sister.  
  
Blue eyes, golden hair, fair skin and a buxom tan. To Mandark, she looked like a Norse Goddess.  
  
"Oh Dee Dee! When will you ever learn that my love for you is greater than inertia itself?" He snapped out of his amourous daze, replaced the photo, and trudged along towards his destination.  
  
Gently as his shoes pattered along the padded carpet up the stairs, he was trying his hardest not to draw attention to the hallway, and breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the top, thanking God that there were no squeeking floorboards to give away his position.  
  
He approached the threshold of Dexter's room and gently turned the doorknob as the door opened gently with a click. His ears perked up at a delightful sound he was hoping for: snoring.  
  
At this time, Astronominov's heart was racing, and his mind flew with a million thoughts a second.  
  
"God, I hope he doesn't decide to wake up." "What will I do if he does and sees me?" "Smug bastard." "Ha ha! Now I shall triumph." "Gotta find the laboratory." "Hope his parents don't decide to walk in." "Hope Dee Dee doesn't disturb him." "Ahhhhh, Dee Dee, my one true love!"  
  
Pictures of famous scientists adorned the walls like a personal shrine, while the desk was cluttered with pencils, pens, and a protractor. Rejected quantum theories and mathematical problems that were scrawled upon the paper, now lie crumpled upon the floor in heaps at the foot of the chair. Above the desk was a large poster of the Periodic Table, and beside it was a poster of Action Hank, which reminded the intruder of the childlike humbleness that Dexter had despite being obsessed with the advanced ingenuity he was blessed with.  
  
A small vivarium sat upon a small end table, providing a faux home for the bearded dragons that reside inside. Next to it were food items and a misting bottle. The lizards' heads perked up and looked at Mandark curiously, as he was a new element in their enviroment.  
  
Then on the other side of the room, was a bed covered with a bedsheet that was adorned with psychedellic flowers - no doubt a sheet borrowed from Dee Dee's room - and upon it was the young boy himself still dressed in his bleached white lab coat --glasses, purple electrical gloves and Beatle boots removed, deep in sleep.  
  
He was taking an infamous power nap to break from all of the equasions and mechanical work the day had sapped from him. Right now as the younger boy loomed over him like a vulture, he could see that Dexter was curled in the faetal position, and his eyes were moving behing the eyelids, a sign of rapid eye movement, and a dreamlike trance.  
  
He mused about what Dexter's dream was, then shoved it out of his head in order not to get sidetracked from his purpose of why he was here in the first place.  
  
Then he found the threshold of the older rival's lab, right behind the bookcase, as he knew when Dexter brought him over in order to gloat about how superior his intelligence was, then in a heartbeat, resided to destroy the competition. Yes, it was time for Dexter to get a taste of his own foul doing.  
  
Gently Mandark lifted the sliding bookcase up until it locked, then crawed under it. "Why should Dexter have maximum security when Mandark has no lab or any way to strike back," Astronominov bitterly thought. He gently lowered the bookcase not to wake the smug rival, and not to alert him that someone was in his laboratory.  
  
He felt a bitter awe at the laboratory that surrounded him.  
  
Laminated cobalt blue tiles reached out for miles like a neverending road at the feet of Mandark, while various wires draped between tall machinery above his head like synthetic vines. There was a deep humming from the nuclear reactors and the generators like a calm mantra, and various computers beeped at intervals spouting morse code. An aroma of caustic chemicals, bleach, and polymers filled the sector like a scientific incense.  
  
As he took his first step on the waxed floor, the sole of his Oxford shoe resonated a dull thud that echoed throughout the area that made him cringe at first, fearing security robots may flock to him, then seeing no threat, he continued his mission for the search for the main unit.  
  
Of course, the main computer was not hard to find, and its' access was completely unsecure, as Dexter had disactivated the alarms long ago in order to return to his work without going through the tedious task of rebooting and loging in after the long sleep. Mandark noticed that the grey seat cusion was still warm, and that his rival must of just left it not too long ago. Sitting with the pang of fear at his neck, he moved on to search for the main connection program, typing in binary code and looking over his shoulder every twenty seconds to find only the emptiness of cold steel walls to stare back.  
  
"Successor! You have made it too easy for the mighty Mandark! Now it is time to bow to your superiour, you mangy inferiour," Mandark cackled, reaching his destination. A large blueprint of the sectors' electrical programming appeared, and a large button flashed at the bottom announcing "UPLOAD FASTER PROG.?"  
  
"Let's see what this baby can do!"  
  
With a click, he inserted the floppy, and clicked on YES, unleashing a wave of disablement upon his rival's work. However, the upload was slow, so Mandark became nosy and rummaged in one of the drawers beside the computer, looking for anything top secret or something to past the time.  
  
Sleek tanned hands pulled a well-worn diary from under the manila folders, possibly to keep it hidden from prying blue eyes of a certain girl with a passion for destruction.  
  
On the front it just planly stated in permanent marker : DEXTER'S LOG. It had no indication of what it really contained.  
  
Mandark sneered and snorted in disgust, then flipped it open to see if he could find anything in there that he could use to humiliate the small rival. He began reading from a couple of months ago.  
  
DEXTER'S LOG #239: 7/10/ 98  
  
I have just met a curious young boy....well, he CLAIMS to BE a boy, and said that his name was Susan. I dunno why anyone in their right mind would name their boy Susan, or for that matter, I feel sorry for the kid myself. Anyways, Susan was much taller than me, and had long raven hair, seemed like he was foreign by the way he acted. I cannot believe the getup that kid was dressed in, seeing it looked like something my stupid sister would wear! However this "boy" seemed quite interested in my Exo-6000 robot, and science altogether, but does not know the value of chrome. I had to clean fingerprints off of my robot's leg all day from that stupid kid! Afterwards when I told that kid to scram, I found out that the damn robot still had some bugs in it's hard drive. Oh well, I turned it into scrap metal for something more useful: sheeting to cover my newer and greater Exo-7000. It too was a piece of junk. I guess life throws a wild card your way sometimes. Anyways, I cannot help but to wonder about that Susan. He seems like a disturbed little boy. I cannot wait for school to start in two weeks!  
  
Mandark, angered, decided to flip through the log to see what other nasty tidbits Dexter had to say about him.  
  
DEXTER'S LOG #256: 7/24/98  
  
I thought today would of went smoothly, seeing it was the first day of a fresh beginning at school, but there was a foul, odious new kid at school. His name is Mandark Astronominov, and what a furious hellbeast he is, trying to ursurp my place as chief scientist and intellect at the only place that I truly feel safe in (par from the Lab.) He told me we wanted to see my secret laboratory, and I indeed showed him, in order to--dare I say it-- have him take me back to his laboratory which was greater in size and scientific superiority, and forced me to shut down mine. I guess it is what Darwin implied: Survival of the fittest. Right now I hate every inch of that cursed Astronominov boy, and his D.N.A.  
  
May he never be a scientist again!  
  
Seeing this only enriched the hatred in his veins for Dexter as he threw the book down on the counter. Hoping seriously for the end of a slow downloading process, he decided he should look around to take his mind off the verbal assalt from the diary.  
  
"Hun, he likes the same music as me," Mandark croaked out as he saw a small CD rack on the counter. It was loaded with musical selections that even Mandark enjoyed which made him feel not so different from this rival. Albums of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, Elton John, David Bowie, and Jimi Hendrix lined the racks with other CDs such as orchestrated classics from Mozart, Bach, and Chopin; CDs which made him and his rival very different in their tastes.  
  
Out of curiousity and prolonged bordom, he picked the abused diary up and flipped to a page past the latter one which disgusted him.  
  
DEXTER'S LOG # 306: 9/25/98  
  
Ah, what a fine day for Science! Mr. Lewinski paired me up with a lab partner, of all, Mandark. It was a lab dealing with finding out the molarity of elements ( Eg. Carbon, Zinc, Potassium, and Oxygen) after they are exposed to flame and sub-zero temperatures. However, I might add, the thought of chemical equasions and molarity was not the only thing that made me feel giddy. I felt very strange when I found out that my lab partner was going to be Mandark....I felt a giddy awe. My stomach felt twisted, and my palms were sweating. I know that he had a cheap laugh off of my dazed stupour when he asked for a beaker, and got a half-assed reply. I have no idea what I said, but Astronominov found it to be quite a riot. May I suggest,that with my study on the conditions , that it was.....love? I love my nemsis? I,Dexter McPhearson, had fallen in love with the strangely nerdish Mandark Astronominov? Why is this? This is quite perplexing. I hope Mandark never finds out of this hormonal response. That is why I am keeping this a secret. I fear of what he would say if he found out of this.  
  
BTW, Dalton and Rutherford were so happy today! They loved that new log I put in their cage!  
  
Blank. That's all Mandark could think of after reading. He was quite startled of Dexter's passage.  
  
Curious beyond the point of no return, brown eyes were fixed on the pages which contained the secret life of a hated rival, and abandoned the once important download screen. He continued on with a passage from a month afterwards.  
  
DEXTER'S LOG #328: 9/17/98  
  
Ah, what a fine day for Science! Behold the beauty radiating from my newfound discovery, a new element! It is a synthetic element consisting of an atomic mass of 1.5679. It contains two valence electrons, and is a highly unstable radioactive solid. It is located on the Periodic Table (at least now) under the atomic number 125, atomic symbol: Mk. I shall call this element Mandarkium--not only because I have named an element after myself, but also as a debt for being an ass to a fellow scientist. I would love to entreat this element to him, but I cannot bear the scathing comments from my love. Perhaps I shall give it to him as a Christmas present, (providing it is in a lead box and directed to his personal mail.) Sure I hated the competition, and am somewhat glad that his lab is out of the way, but I treated my only true friend like a jerk. This is for you.....my love, dearest Mandark.  
  
Anyways, Dee Dee broke into the lab, (does the girl not know how to read?) just to annoy me as her daily routine. It never fails to amaze me that we are related. Today she capsized one of my embryonic chambers with a baby Dilophosaur inside, and spilled amneotic fluid all over my floor and lab coat. Then she started "dancing", and proceeded to rip out cords to use as faux ribbons in her stupid imaginary play. Finally, I kicked her out, but not before she pressed a button. That button happened to be connected to an untested electronic grid that almost zapped me with 5,000 volts, had I not been wearing my electrical gloves. That ditzy girl knows how to kill someone. Mom should consider to put her up for adoption.....really.  
  
Again and again, he noticed that his name was mentioned almost in every entry. Dexter was crazy over him. Upon flipping through the pages, a small newspaper clipping fell out, and knowing it had to do with something about him, he proceeded to scan for information.  
  
LOCAL CALIFORNIAN BOY WINS NATIONAL CHESS CONTEST  
  
Mandark Astronominov,age 8, shown here won the very complex battle for wits in the National Chess Championship in Burbank today against five time champion Dexter McPhearson. Mandark who was born in Bombay, India, was a first time contestant this year, and is a local at Huber Elementary as one of the top honor roll students in this state, and is one of the ten best of this country. Dexter McPhearson, age 9, is also one of the top honor roll students at Huber Elementary, and also in the top ten of this country. Mandark and Dexter will vie for the championship next year.  
  
Around Mandark's picture was a heart drawn in with a pink highlighter. Placing the clipping back into the page where its' home was for quite some time to ward off any trail of inconspicuous rummaging, Mandark decided to read the last entry in the diary.  
  
DEXTER'S LOG #488: 2/13/99  
  
Ah, what a fine day for Science! Yes, I am quite aware that tomorrow is Valentines day, but one of my intelligence is not interested in cards, flowers, and chalky candy with romantic sayings upon them. After years of being ignored and hated by the popular pupils in my school, I am indeed quite numb to the loneliness that enshrouds us "nerds" and smart folk on this day. Every year as a ritual as a break from our scholarly learnings, we make faux mailboxes out of cardboard and coloured construction paper and tape them to our desks to recieve our cards in the next day. After many years, I have only recieved cards from Douglas as a token of friendship, and from children whose parents force them to give cards to everybody in order to make them feel like they are not left out. One year I had recieved one from Dee Dee as a joke. Yes, I give out plenty of cards to everyone, wishing for a response, but nothing.....nothing at all. None of them mean anything to me...they don't mean anything to the sender. This year I wish that Mandark would drop me a card, but knowing him, it will not be heartfelt due to my cockiness. I shall send him some flowers and a card, but I cannot bear to sign my name upon it due to embarassment. I guess I will forge my sister's signature on it just like the Christmas and birthday cards of last year. My sister will recieve the cards that I dearly wish were addressed to me, and Mandark will once again recieve mine that he truly believes is my sister's romantic thoughts of him. Oh Mandark, you are truly naive when it comes to me. For tomorrow, I shall weep silently inside when the trading begins in class, knowing that my true interest is only next to me, but does not know that true love is only a desk away.  
  
Feeling like a rat, now he truly knew part of the monomaniac that grew in Dexter, and the feelings for him instead of believing what he hyped over the destruction of his lab months ago.  
  
That was in the past, and labs can get rebuilt. This friendship is now, and if destructed, can never be renewed.  
  
Aborting the download which was a minute away from it's full launch, he pulled the red floppy out and pocketed it, saving it for a real crisis, and returned the computer's program just like he found it before he decided to reek havoc upon it. Book closed, the younger boy returned it to it's secret home nestled below the manila folders at the bottom of the drawer, closed it, sat up, and gazed at awe at the laboratory that surrounded him like a palace. "This is for you....." he mouthed repeating what he read on one of the pages in the log. Silently as he came in, he closed the sliding door behind the bookcase, and noticed that Dexter was in his deep slumber, possibly dreaming about him besides calculus, or quantum theories.  
  
The small slightly plump boy curled up amongst himself, and reminded the taller male of a sleeping cat. After watching for a while, he decided to leave and as stealthily he intruded in Dexter's home, he left without a trace, already down the block halfway near his home, thinking about how many valentine cards and flowers he should surprise his rival with tomorrow to make up for the negative actions he thrust upon him for the whole school year (real signature incuded.).......  
  
......and of course, one for Dee Dee. 


End file.
